Holding Out for a Hero

[Electra]

"Moira, wait!" Stesha reached out into the painlessly burning flames, but she couldn't reach, as though Moira were growing more distant without moving at all. Instinctively she lashed out with her powers as well, sending skinny branches whipping out of the bonsai trees and racing through the air towards the pillar of light. Their aim was true, they wrapped into a round snare right where Moira should have been, but Moira just kept getting fainter, till it was hard to see her at all. "I'll get help!" Stesha promised. "We'll find you, just hang on!"

Even as Moira whispered goodbye, the flames faded entirely from view, taking Moira with them. "No!" Stesha cried, stumbling into the space where her friend had been, nearly tripping over her own slack vines. "Moira!" Tears began gathering behind her eyes, then trickling down the sides of her nose as she tried to decide what to do. Moira hadn't wanted to go, it wasn't fair... what if she never came back? She ran back to the couch and dug into her knapsack, searching for her phone. "Please be charged, please be charged..." Flipping it open, she dialed the one number she'd memorized most recently. "Derrick?" she asked, her voice thick with tears. "It's Stesha. Something bad has happened, I need your help..."

[Cyroa]

Dark Star was repositioning and adjust the trajectory of a satellite, giving it a higher orbit. It wasn't too difficult, just one of several little tidying jobs he did for the SCC to save them some money and effort. He was somewhere over the mid-Pacific and had just gotten it's orbit realigned when he 'heard' her voice, asking for help over the airwaves.

He was moving before there was conscious thought, without even realizing it. From zero to maximum speed in heartbeat. He roared through the atmosphere without concealing himself, though at those speeds it mattered little. He flashed through the walls of her house stopping in the room with her, looking around concerned.

"Stesha? What's wrong? Are you alright?"

[Electra]

Stesha looked blankly at her phone for a moment, then at him, as though finding it hard to conceptualize that he was suddenly in the room with her. She was sitting in the middle of the couch and crying, but other than that and the rather out-of-place vines coiled like garden hoses in the living room, the place looked entirely normal. "It's Moira," Stesha choked, closing the phone and opening it again. "She s-s-said she was l-l-leaving, you know, b-but it wasn't just a trip. They made her go, and she d-d-didn't want to, and she might not come back. I couldn't stop it," she told him, wiping her face with the backs of her hands. "I tried t-to hold her here, but she just disappeared! We have to help her..."

[Cyroa]

He moved to her side, coming to a stop next to her. "Moira? She did say something about a trip, but she seemed willing at least when I talked to her yesterday." Moira...her house. It finally clicked where he'd actually flown into. He gave Stesha's shoulder a gentle tk squeeze, the closest he could do for a hug saddly. "Stesha, it's going to be fine. If someone's captured her and holding her against her will, we'll get her back. No question. But I seem to be missing some things. Back up and explain a little more please. Who took her against her will? How did they do so? And where did they go?" He let his own sense extend outward, trying to figure out exactly what had happened. He found it difficult to grasp someone kidnapping Divine. The woman could charm rocks into giving up water it seemed sometimes. And she packed a solid punch too. He really didn't understand what was going on here.

[Electra]

Stesha took a couple of deep breaths and pulled herself together, concentrating for a moment on reeling back the viney branches that still lay abandoned in the middle of the room like a topiary sculpture to futility. "It was her family," she told Derrick, passing the phone nervously from hand to hand. "I wanted to know where she was going, and when she would come back. That's when she told me her family was taking her, and she didn't have a choice. They'd decided she should learn how to be a goddess. That's who her family is," she explained with a jerky nod, "no-fooling gods and goddesses, like in Greek myth stories." It still seemed unreal, but she'd believe almost anything at this point.

"I told her that she shouldn't go if she didn't want to, if she was afraid to go. I said that we would help her, that I would and the Knights would, but she didn't think anyone could do anything. She acted like there was nothing she or anyone could do to stop them from taking her, and she didn't know if she'd come back, or if she would even be okay. Then she started talking in a strange voice, like there was someone else in her head with her. It was a goddessy voice. I think she did it as a joke at first, but then it was like she couldn't stop it. I said I would call Taylor and Ace, people who would know what to do, and she wanted to, but then this column of fire-looking stuff appeared and it took her away!" Stesha still had a few more tears for that. "I couldn't stop it! She asked me not to give up, and then she just disappeared. What are we going to do?"

[Cyroa]

Dark Star nodded his head slowly. "You can't win them all you know. There was little you could have to prevent her leaving. Gods and all that, as hard as it is to believe sometimes." He straightened. "Here is what we're going to do. I do not wish to fight anyone. But we won't let her be held captive. We're going to travel to Mount Olympus it seems. If she wishes to stay and learn from then, then we'll of course let her. If not and she's being held against her will, well... we'll just have to ask them to let her make her own decisions." He nodded at her, confident. "Give Taylor a call."

[Electra]

Stesha nodded agreement, though she was a bit thrown off by the idea of Mount Olympus being an actual place, rather than more a sort of idea or fantasy. But if you started believing in Greek gods, Mount Olympus was the natural next step. "I'll call her, and Moira's other friends too. They need to know what happened. I know everyone will want to help." She opened her phone again, rubbing the last of the moisture off her face with her free hand, and looked up Taylor's number. "Hello Taylor, it's Stesha again. I've got a big problem, bigger than imps this time." Her voice was under better control now, if still a little wobbly.

[alderwitch]

"Where? How urgent?" Crackled across the phone after Taylor had picked up. It was curt even for her but the reason for her short questions was clear as the distinctive zorch-pow of eldritch combat boomed on her end.

Phantom listened for the response, and provided, "Be there in ten minutes. Maybe fifteen." Before her end of the line went dead.

[Electra]

"Pretty urgent," Stesha said, a little taken aback by the sounds of fighting on the other end. "But don't get yourself hurt trying to get here..." She was about to explain more when Phantom cut her off, and she supposed she couldn't blame her. Talking on the phone was pretty distracting, even when all you were doing was driving a car. Closing the phone, she told Derrick, "Taylor's busy, but she'll be here in a few minutes. I should probably call Ace too, Moira said he's her friend. He knows just about everything about everything, if anybody in town has actually been to Mount Olympus, it will probably be him. And maybe I should call Jack, too." An expression of distaste crossed her face. "Any port in a storm, right?"

[Cyroa]

He nodded. "I agree. If I knew where she was, I'd go assist to help her along. But she'll be fine I'm sure. Call Ace. I do not think Jack would know about this topic really. But if necessary, I'll contact all the Knights to find out what we need to know. We won't leave a friend."

[Electra]

"Trust me, Jack knows Moira, and he owes her bigtime," Stesha told him sourly. "He can be muscle, or something. But I'll call Ace first." Flipping her phone back on, she looked up Ace's number and dialed that one. It still felt a little strange to be able to do that, but the circumstances were dire. "Hello, Ace?" she asked into the phone. "This is Stesha, Stesha Madison. I was wondering, you know Moira Morley, right? She's in trouble, and I was hoping you might be able to help us."

[angrydurf]

Ace looked down at his phone curiously as the caller ID displayed who was calling, "Ace Danger" he answered.

He nodded as Stesha explained the reason for her call, "Of course, Stesha, I'll be there directly, her place?" He replied once she finished her explanation. In the background Stesha heard another man speak with mild displeasure.

As he spoke Ace quickly dressed and mufflingt he phone told his companion, "Duty calls, be a dear and lock up before you leave." and then he was out the door taking the express elevator to the parking level.

"I shoudl be there in twenty minutes tops." He spoke into the phone once more.

Once he knew where he was going Ace slid shut his phone and thought to himself that this evening certainly looked to be getting more interesting. He slid behind the wheel of his car and sped out onto the streets and the aid of his friends.

[Electra]

With Ace and Taylor both on the way, Stesha hesitated for a minute before calling Jack. Seeing him again was pretty much the last thing she wanted to do, but this wasn't about her, it was about Moira. If there was the smallest possibility that Jack could help, she had to call him. Maybe that was why, in the grand scheme of things, she'd kept him on her phone instead of deleting him with extreme prejudice. Tucking her feet up under her on the couch. Stesha made the call. "Jack? It's Stesha. Moira's in trouble. We need you to help us find her."

[Avenger Assembled]

There was dead silence on the line for a minute or so before Jack said, "I'll be there right away, Stesha. Have you called in anyone else on this? Moira's got a lot of friends." He was in Greenbank, looking with some distaste into a meatpacking warehouse that Melinda had once owned. Why hadn't this place been shut down years earlier? It was just...well, now it was going away, and that was what really mattered.

[Electra]

"I've already gotten in touch with them," Stesha told him coolly. "You're the very last one I called. We're meeting at Moira's house. I'm sure you remember where it is. Can you be here in twenty minutes?" She wanted to add a few more comments, but now just wasn't the time. Why did Jack seem so insignificant in her mind except when she actually had to deal with him face to face? It was frustrating.

[Avenger Assembled]

"I can," said Jack shortly, obviously trying to avoid an argument. "I'll be there within twenty minutes if the traffic allows. Jack out." He hung up the phone and sighed. Well, this was going to be an interesting afternoon. But surely it wouldn't be as bad as all that. There were plenty of heroes in Freedom City, and Moira had always seemed to know all of them. This might be a difficult time, but how embarrassing could it be?

[alderwitch]

Taylor teleported into the closest alley she knew of near Moira's house and walked the rest of the way, slightly stiffly. Oh, it wasn't anything a hot bath wouldn't cure but she'd misgauged the number of opponents and had ended up pitched through a wall while solid. Thank Heshem for force fields but Taylor's back molars still felt rattled. All in a day's work as a super hero. She wasn't looking forward to whatever this was, however. Silently, Taylor prayed with every step that Moira wasn't involved in this. She still wasn't sure what to do about Divine's, ah divine parentage.

Taylor walked up to the door after a quick glance to make sure no one was close by, walked through it. Stesha had said urgent after all, "I'm here. What's wrong?"

[Cyroa]

Dark Star floated nearby Stesha for emotional support as she made her calls. Stesha certainly seemed on edge; worried for her friend most likely. He waited patiently, having gotten good at that over the years. He wasn't too worried. This was yet one more obstacle to overcome; but good would triumph he was sure.

He noted Phantom's approach as well as her stiff gait. "Greetings. Are you alright? I don't see any injuries but you seem to be walking rather stifly. Is there anything I can help with? As for what's wrong, perhaps we should wait. Stesha here has already called Mr. Danger as well as Jack. They should be here soon."

[Electra]

Stesha hung up the phone just as Taylor walked in. "Are you okay?" she asked right away. Even in her more formal Phantom guise, Taylor didn't usually walk like that. "Everyone's going to be here soon, and I can tell it all once. Were you in a fight? I hope I didn't get you hurt when I called." Stesha had obviously been crying recently, her eyes were swollen and her forehead and nose were blotchy pink, but she seemed under control now.

[Avenger Assembled]

Having come quietly and invisibly up the stairs, the first anyone knew of Jack was when he arrived. He opened the door, already coming up with a convenient alibi that was thoroughly thrown off by Stesha, Dark Star, and Taylor! Aw, son of a... He saw Taylor better and approached her, a worried look on his face as he took in her injuries. "Oh, jeez, what happened? Are you guys all right?" He looked around at the others, wondering if he'd missed an abortive battle.

[alderwitch]

Taylor was shaking her head to reject Dark Star's offer when Jack came in behind her. Despite her concern and admitted weariness, a smile lit up her face and she shook her head again as she touched Jack's arm casually, "I've got no more idea than you what's going on. I actually just got here myself. I'm fine, although I appreciate the concern. Just a long day. Usual things."

She turned to give Stesha a worried look tempted to offer her a hug. She looked absolutely distraught, "Are you going to be okay?"

[Electra]

When Taylor turned back to Stesha, the plant controller's expression had changed substantially. She didn't look so much distraught as pissed, and there was the very faint scent of burning leaves in the air. "Glad you could make it, Jack," she told him. "We're okay, but Moira isn't. I was sure you'd want to help out, since the two of you are such good friends." There was plenty of extra emphasis on those last three words. "Ace should be here any minute. When he gets here, we can all talk."

[Avenger Assembled]

Jack folded his arms. "Hello to you too, Stesha," he fired back, an unaccustomed look of annoyance on his face. "Yes, I am very concerned about Moira. You made things sound desperate on the phone. What happened to Moira?" He was worried about his friend, despite his annoyance with Stesha, and he put his hand protectively on Phantom's as they talked.

[Cyroa]

Dark Star nodded as Avenger came in. It seemed perfectly normal tfor Taylor smile and greet the man and Stesha to be upset at the delay. Of course he'd want to help. He was a hero after all. "Good to see you Jack. We haven't called the rest of the Knights yet. Just the five of us." He blinked and looked off to one side as his senses detected the arrival of the last hero. "Mr. Danger has arrived. I'll let Stesha do the talking as soon as he walks in since I only arrived just before Taylor was called. She knows more about what's going on."

[angrydurf]

Ace huried up the steps to Moiras appartment taking them two at time and didn't bother knocking as he opened the door.

"I got here as quick as I could," He said as he stepped in and glanced at the assembled heroes pausing for a moment on Jack he paused and took the small step to approach the gentleman he hadn't met before.

"Hi," he said presenting his hand, "Captain Ace Danger." He smiled wide inquiring "and you are?" with clear intrest.